{"id":7852,"date":"2013-08-06T16:40:01","date_gmt":"2013-08-06T16:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigerian-newspapers\/iita-alerts-farmers-of-invading-banana-virus\/"},"modified":"2013-08-06T16:40:01","modified_gmt":"2013-08-06T16:40:01","slug":"iita-alerts-farmers-of-invading-banana-virus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/iita-alerts-farmers-of-invading-banana-virus\/","title":{"rendered":"IITA alerts farmers of invading banana virus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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THE International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Oyo State, on Tuesday alerted farmers of a virus which has destroyed banana plantations across West Africa.<\/p>\n

The alert was contained in a statement in Lagos by Dr Lava Kumar, a virologist at IITA.<\/p>\n

Kumar said the ‘banana bunchy top virus (BBTV)’, was on the increase across West Africa, especially in Nigeria– the second largest producer of banana in West Africa.<\/p>\n

He said that the virus was widespread in the border towns of Idiroko, Ilashe, Odan-Itoro, Ido-Ologun, and Igbogila –all in Ogun, Nigeria.<\/p>\n

According to him, the virus is capable of devastating banana farms and those who earn a living from the crop.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf not checked, the virus will devastate banana farms and jeopardise the livelihoods of millions of farmers who earn their livelihoods from the crop.<\/p>\n

\u201dSystematic studies on yield losses have not been done but empirical observations indicate 50 to 90 per cent loss in the affected region,\u201d Kumar said.<\/p>\n

Also, Mr Charles Onyeani, Head of IITA\u2019s Post-Entry Quarantine, Nigeria Agriculture Quarantine Services (NAQS), warned against movement of planting materials from infected areas to uninfected areas.<\/p>\n

Onyeani said that to checkmate the spread of the virus, banana planting materials should not be moved from infected areas to uninfected areas.<\/p>\n

The disease was first discovered by IITA, in collaboration with the University of Ibadan and NAQS, in 2012.<\/p>\n

According to reports by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Nigeria produces 2.74 million tonnes of banana yearly.<\/p>\n

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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. <\/a>A DisNaija.Com<\/a> network.<\/p>\n

Source: Guardian Newspaper<\/p>\n

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